😶‍🌫️ Who was Governor Pothead?

🍼 Workplace Child Care

Airport officials are hoping to boost employee recruitment and retention by offering on-site child care for its more than 40,000 workers. DIA CEO Phil Washington pitched a feasibility study on the idea to a city council committee last week. [Axios Denver]

• Why it matters: A recent survey showed 44% of Colorado parents have turned down job offers due to child care concerns.

🚔 Ex-Cop Acquitted of Assault

An Arapahoe County jury found former Aurora police officer John Haubert not guilty of any charges in the violent 2021 arrest of Kyle Vinson, a Black man. Haubert’s then-patrol partner Francine Martinez, however, was convicted last year of “failing to intervene.” [Denver Post]

👀 Lawmakers Who Carry Guns

State Dems are telling lawmakers “I told you so,” after Rep. Don Wilson, a Republican from Colorado Springs, left his loaded 9mm Glock in a bathroom at the Capitol Building. Gun control proponents are saying this is why firearms should not be allowed in the statehouse building. [CPR]

🔋 Attention EV Owners

You’ll soon have a dozen more places around the Denver metro to power up your electric vehicle. Thanks to $21 million in federal grant money, the state will install 46 new “fast, affordable, and reliable” charging stations across Colorado. [Denverite]

• Speaking of: Here’s why Colorado is the best state to buy and own an electric vehicle. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

🚙 Attention All Other Car-Drivers

Subarus were once so ubiquitous in Colorado that you could easily mistake someone else’s Outback for your own. But data shows that the car brand synonymous with our outdoorsy lifestyle could be becoming less popular as larger SUVs take over the road. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

Award-winning Denver novelist Kali Fajardo-Anstine is at it again. You might know her name from the 2019 smash success that was “Sabrina & Corina” — an acclaimed collection of short fiction stories — as well as her 2022 national bestselling novel, “Woman of Light.”

Recently, Fajardo-Anstine shared with fans that she is back at the desk, working on something new. What can we expect? “It’s sort of dystopian,” she says. And like her other hit works, it is set right here in the Mile High. But we’ll have to be patient for the release party, as Fajardo-Anstine says she’s still “deep in the middle” of the project.

Until then, here are a few other Denver-based novels that come highly recommended from local bookworms.

Horror

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth — “An Urban Native woman must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.”

Mystery / Suspense

Desperado: A Mile High Noir by Manuel Ramos — “This gritty novel set in Denver features blackmail, murder and gang warfare.”

Historical Fiction

Little Souls by Sandra Dallas — “A gripping tale of sisterhood, loyalty, and secrets set in Denver amid America’s last deadly flu pandemic.”

Fantasy

White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton — “Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another…”

Comic Series

The Asphalt Warrior by Gary Reilly — “[Murph] strives to earn no more money as a driver for Rocky Mountain Taxi Company than his needs require. He is determined to stay out of the lives of those he transports. He struggles with the first issue and he is spectacularly bad with the second.”

Data Shows Denver is Over the Subaru

Once upon a time, Subaru was the unofficial car brand of Colorado. But data suggests that our obsession with Outbacks may be over. Denver Post reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton joins the City Cast Denver crew to dig into the details and discuss what makes this particular vehicle so appealing — and what could be causing its recent decline in popularity.